Last week we were working through
the concept of being refreshed as Peter is setting forth now
the proposal to his Jewish brethren of the blessings of repentance. And he tells us over in verse
19 that they should repent and therefore, repent ye therefore
and be converted that your sins may be blotted out When the times
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and
he used as we were contemplating a sort of a metaphorical concept
times of Refreshings and we saw that that idea of a time of refreshing
meant to revive in the sense of the heart being cold and the
heart being cold. There was an analogy that we
saw in that also about the parched ground, the famished ground,
the dry ground, and in the Bible the heart is likened unto soil. And if the soil is hard, that
means that reception of the Word of God is going to be very difficult. If the soil is nurtured, if it's
prepared, if it's tealed, if it's broken up by the Spirit
of God and by providence, then that means there's a potential
for the seed of the Word of God to go in. and to potentially
germinate and thus to bring forth fruit. Well what Peter is saying
in verse 19 is that because God is in a time of refreshing not
only the world but the nation particularly the nation of Israel
where the waters are coming down from heaven and they are softening
the soil of men's heart and are bringing men and women to a place
of knowing God in a saving way that this is the appropriate
time to receive the proposition to believe the gospel and to
be converted. Repent ye therefore and be converted
that your sins may be blotted out. We talked about the blotting
out of sins last week too, which is a work that only God can do,
right? How can the sins of the heart
which are indelibly stamped, as it were, upon stone by an
iron pin with the tip of a diadem, carved into the stone as a witness
and testimony against humanity, against us before a holy God. How can that be erased? How can
that be removed? It can't unless God himself does
it. And the beautiful metaphor of
blotting out blotting out we saw took place when Jesus Christ
hung on Calvary Street. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, that was contrary to us,
taking it away, nailing it to his cross. A profoundly deep
implication of judiciary on the part of God to deal with a broken
law, a curse that had fallen out upon us as human beings.
and an enmity that set us up over against God. This is what
we call grace amazing. An amazing grace reality that
exists because only God could solve the problem of our sin.
Only God could. And then the apostle Peter, upon
telling us that our sins may be blotted out during this time
of refreshing, which we know is really the work of the spirit
of God and the preaching and teaching of the word of God,
by which the soul is brought nigh to God through a revelation
of his glory. And then he makes the promise
over in verse 20, and he shall send Jesus Christ, which was
before preached unto you. Do you guys see that? And he
shall send Jesus Christ, which was before preached to you. In
my outline, I raised the question, how does he send Christ? How does he send Christ? Because
the promise is, if you repent, if you are converted, that your
sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall
come from the presence of the Lord, he shall send Jesus Christ,
which was before preached unto you. How does Christ come to
men and women today? Through the through the what?
Through the spirit in what way but what how what does that mean
through the spirit? It comes through the word That's
how it comes So so when Peter says and he shall send Jesus
Christ to you he's talking about the mechanism of preaching and
teaching by which Christ is revealed to us through the word and in
an efficacious, soul-saving way. Turning your Bible to Ephesians
chapter 2. Of course, you know we are dealing
with the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the practice
of the church, right? And the fundamental practice,
not exclusive, but fundamental practice of the church is what? Preaching and teaching. That's
the role of the church in the world. The one institution that
has the responsibility to preach and to teach. No other institution
has that prerogative. In Ephesians chapter 2 verse
14, listen to what he says, verses 14 through 17. For he, that is
Christ, is our peace, who hath made both one. Now who are the
both? Jew and Gentile, and hath broken down the middle wall of
petition between us. What was the middle wall of petition
between Jew and Gentile? The law. God had set up a law
system that made a very clear distinction between Jews and
Gentiles so that they could never have full authentic fellowship
because the Gentiles were not part of that legal covenant.
So they were separated by that law system. Having abolished
in his flesh, that is through the incarnation, the suffering
and death of Jesus Christ, the enmity. Now Mark Howell, the
apostle, Describes the nature of the law over against the Jew
and the Gentile that divided them as well as the division
between God and man He calls the law in this context the what? enmity You know, you guys know
what enmity means, right? It means variance It means hostility
It means variance or hostility That's a quite interesting concept
because there are some people who would talk to us as if the
law of God was something kind, gentle, and wonderful for the
sinner to be associated with. There are some folks, even presently
I'm hearing on the radio, constructing a formulation that somehow the
law is the means by which you and I are saved, and that the
law is not some hostile, dangerous thing of which the sinner needs
to be careful of. I would assert that the one thing
that's going to be sure to send us to hell is the law of God. that the law of God is something
that we need to settle because it's an adversary against everything
that's not like God. The goal of the law is to condemn
sin. As an unsaved person, the last
thing you want to do is come up over against God's law. It
has no pleasurable thing to say to a sinner. The law of God has
no inherent grace in it. Its design is to simply uphold
God's justice and God's holiness and punish sin. The one tutorial
thing that the law does for us is to show us what sin is. This is Romans 3 20. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. If a man or woman does not understand
and have a proper estimation of their sinful condition, they
may very well fall prey to assuming that they can get right with
God by the works of the law. Or that somehow they can have
a healthy, favorable relationship with law keeping because they're
not that bad. But may I say to you, it is the
very law of God that separates us between God and us. It's God's
law that prohibits you from drawing near to him because he would
destroy us as sinners You guys understand that this is so very
important for you to know and that law is in your conscience
according to Romans 2 you and I know what's right and what's
wrong and the thing is is that so while as yet there is that
Indictment hanging over the head of the soul. We're running from
God Isn't that what? Isn't that what Adam and Eve
did? They ran from God. They ran, and rightly so, because
they weren't right. The law of God in their conscience
was exposing them to the fact that they had violated God's
law, had violated God's law. So they ran and what? Hid. So
the phobia in the heart of mankind is a clear indication that we
need a mediator between us and God because we are at variance. Is that true? These are fundamentals
of the gospel that sometimes we lose, particularly in the
evangelical church. The idea that somehow you can
negotiate with God and seek his favor through law keeping is
absolutely untenable with regards to the scripture. So the apostle
says, having abolished in his humanity through the crucifixion,
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, And
here's the objective, see that little word for, this is what
we call a henna cloth in the original language, it's a purpose
cloth, to make in himself. Who was the himself? Christ.
Now, what he's doing, and this is so critical to a proper understanding
of the objective of God from the beginning of time to the
end of time, what Paul is explaining is that in order for men, all
men from every ethnic group, And there were only two categories
that were ultimately described in the scripture, the Jews and
the Gentiles. In order for men in both groups, because God puts
no difference, all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. In order for men to be made successfully right with God,
you have to be in Christ. In order for men to be successfully
right with God, you have to be in Christ. Whether you are a
Jew or a Gentile, the solution to our sin problem is a relationship. So notice what the objective
of Christ was by his death on Calvary Street, was to make in
himself, not merely by himself, but in himself, of the two, one
new man. Do you guys see that? This is
one of the things that drive a Christocentric hermeneutic
that I preach everywhere. that the objective of God has
always been one family, one father, one God, one people of God, and
that one people of God are only authentically the one people
of God when they are in Christ. Is that making some sense? So
to be outside of Christ is to not be part of the family of
God. And the only way you can be in Christ is if God places
you in Christ. You can't place yourself in Christ.
What do you know what you and I are looking at here in Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 15 is totally a work of God apart from us God
has wrought the work of atonement through Christ and the objective
of that atonement is to make in himself one new man, so making
peace So Christ is the one new man you guys believe that Christ
is the one new man He is new humanity. He is the beginning
of the creation of God. He is the firstborn of many brethren. He is the foundation for the
new Jerusalem. He is the genus of God's new
eternity, new Jerusalem, his new city, his new temple. Christ
is the genus of that. And all that are outside of that
genus are part of the old system. This is what the Bible is clearly
alluding to. And thus we read in II Corinthians
chapter 5 verse 17. If any man be in Christ, he is
what? So what one must understand is
that there is only one place by which redemption is realized
for any human being and that's in Christ. You want to get a
sound theological axiom by which you can make sure you don't mess
up theology? That axiom is in Christ. The preposition in describes
the state or condition or the sphere or the realm or the place
where men and women are to be safe and secure for all eternity. That place is in Christ. This
is why throughout all of the New Testament, Paul repeatedly
uses the phrase in Christ, in Christ, in Christ, in Christ. And Christ himself plainly says,
no one comes unto the father but by me. So the theology is
radically crystal centric and it's critical for you and me
and I might submit to as I'm developing this before we go
back. Your problem in mind with regards to peace and joy and
stability and confidence before God and assurance and even growth
and character and development is a lack of constancy of focusing
on Christ. To the degree that you fail to
see the full scope of the sufficiency of God's son to that degree you
will lack in your own walk. The real tragedy of our present
day Christian struggle is the failure for one or a group of
people to be able to thoroughly embrace all that Jesus Christ
is for us. And this is so very important
because God made it simple. The place where you will be blessed
is in Christ. He really did make it that simple.
You can't read the New Testament carefully without understanding
that theme. The Apostle Paul made it very
clear in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 2, I am determined to
know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
for he makes Jesus Christ the whole counsel of God for us.
So the one mission that every human being who is headed for
eternity should do and must do is to come to know all that there
is to know about Christ. That's the one primary and sole
objective of every believer. For of God are we in Christ who
of God is made unto us sanctification, redemption, righteousness, and
wisdom. Wisdom righteousness sanctification
and redemption what that means is he is the whole of our salvation
and you'll find believers most stable and Most constant and
most happy and most joyful who have their eyes fixed on Christ
You want to know where you lose your strength where you lose
your vigor? where you lose your clarity, and people have problems
with clarity. As a pastor and as a counselor,
I'm dealing with people all the time who have lost clarity on
who they are, what their calling is, what their purpose is. And
the reason for which we will lose our clarity and lose our
confidence and lose any sense of a purpose in our life is when
we fail to realize that all we are are what we are in Christ. All we are are what we are in
Christ. And if we are not seeing Christ as our all-sufficiency,
we have nothing. As soon as the wind blows, we're
in trouble. As soon as the wind blows, we're in trouble. We can
build a straw man theology and a straw house according to Matthew
chapter 7, build it on the sand of our own giftedness, on the
sand of our own agendas, on the sand of our own popularity, on
the sand of our own works and effort, on the sand of our own
skill set, our manipulative skill sets. And that house may look
good until the wind blows. And when once the wind blows,
everybody knows that you built that house on a lie. A pack of lies. You know what
that lie is? That you didn't need Christ every
bit of the way. That's the pack of lies that
we're talking about. On the other hand, you'll meet
a person whose life is very simple, very plain, very innocuous, not
prodigious, not fabulous, not famous, not notable, not accomplishing
much in your sight, But he or she or they are as a stable as
a rock Stable as a rock Because they are fixed on Christ They
found the secret to true joy when the wind blows I have set
my eyes Always before the Lord therefore I shall not be moved. That's what David learned That's
what he had learned. And so this is what the Apostle
was teaching now mark what he says in verse 16 and that he
might reconcile both, Jew and Gentile, right? Unto God in what? Now watch this now. There's only
one body. There's not two bodies. See, what Paul is driving us
to in the book of Ephesians is a Unitarian concept of the harmony
and oneness of the family of God, starting with God the Father.
So like a brother asked me earlier today, and I got this question
about a week ago. What denomination are you of?
What's your denomination? And we began to talk about it
and last week we actually broke it up a little bit and I talked
about the fallacy of denominations. I said that biblically there
is no grounds for denominationalism. Not one ounce of biblical affirmation
that denominations should exist. Denominations are the efforts
of men throughout history to either retain something that
they saw fit to exist within the body politic of the church,
or they were the negative efforts of men to excise a portion of
the body and cause that body to be identified by the tenants
and hallmark of that particular individual. Am I making some
sense? Two sides to denominationalism. One is that sometimes throughout
church history, The, uh, what the faithful church would do
is withdraw from apostate teaching, have to separate from churches
that are corrupting the gospel and departing from the faith
and making mockery of the witness of, of God in the church. And
so you have to separate, separate the people of God. This is what
Christ is going to do with the new Testament church after he
fully bears record to Jerusalem. By the time we get to the 13th
chapter, you will hear the apostles say, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. We have borne record of the glory
of God in Christ for a number of years now. You guys have been
under probation and you rulers are constantly rejecting Messiah.
And the scriptures do not call for us to constantly fight with
people who are rejecting Messiah. Then there was a separation.
but that separation wasn't establishing a new denomination. It was actually
clarifying what the true church was for a while. The gospel started
in Jerusalem and had its impact in Judea, Jerusalem and Judea
in its own body. Politic was rejecting the claims
of the gospel. They did not harmonize. This
is why you can't mix law with grace and works with faith. You
can't mix the old with the, with the new, they don't work. So
eventually the new had to draw out of the old and leave the
old to do according to what? Hebrews chapter 8 verse 13 is
saying that it's doing disfiguring Dismantling dissolving waxing
obsolete falling away Well, I'm talking to you guys about his
old and new things and for those of you who are new Christians
what we're really talking about is when you come to Christ and
Your battle will be, for you new Christians, is not to be
sidetracked by issues that don't matter. Will you hear me? Your
battle will be, for new Christians, not to be sidetracked by a thousand
issues that don't matter. There will be a thousand issues
that people will rush up on you and say, this is important, this
is important, and you'll have to ask the question, how does
this relate to Jesus? Because if it does not relate
to Jesus, it's not important. Does it steal Jesus' glory? Does
it diminish who he really is? Does it distort his claims? Because to the degree that they
can strip you away from a face-to-face relationship with Christ, which
is position number one for the husband and the wife, to that
degree, you're gonna lose your joy, your peace. And that is
a real tragedy that does occur. He wants to reconcile both unto
God in one body, that is the church by the cross, having slain
the enmity thereby. Now, where is the reconciliation
taking place? At the cross. You guys see that?
Now watch this now. So then this is something I have
discovered after 35 years. There might be multitudes of
people who profess to be Christian. Are you ready? We will have no
authentic unity. until our unity is found in the
doctrine of the crosswork of Jesus Christ. It is right there
at the cross of Christ where our unity is discovered. Otherwise,
our unity is a farce. If our unity is based on denominationalism,
denominational tenets, or if our unity is based upon culture,
Or if our unity is based upon ethnicity or if our unity is
based upon you or being older if our unity is based upon gender
All of the political stuff that goes on today That's a false
unity You will find all over the world where true brothers
and sisters in Christ are to be That the one area where they
will be seen to be really family is at the cross at the cross
Where I first saw the light Are you hearing me? Where we get
the cross wrong, we are not family members. And it starts there
and it builds from there. This is what the apostle Paul
is saying. This is why he says, I am determined to know nothing
among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. What think
ye of the crucified Christ? Who is he? What did he do? What
did accomplish? These things are very critical
to authentic unity. Now here is what he goes on to
say. Watch this. and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity by the
cross, he came and preached peace to you. Now Paul is speaking
to the church at where? Ephesus. So he's not saying that
Jesus literally came and preached peace. He's saying that Christ
came by the spirit through the gospel in the ministry of the
apostles. In other words, as Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew
to his disciples, if they receive you, they've received me. And
if they receive me, they've received him that sent me. Do you guys
see that? This is what Jesus stated very
clearly to the apostles, giving apostolic authority to them.
He made it plain, if they have received you, that's Matthew
10, 40, then they have received me. And when we are given sound
biblical teaching and when we are given a Christ-exalting theology,
it is as if Christ Himself is actually teaching you. For the
Spirit of God came to do one thing, and that's to glorify
Him. John 16, 8, right? When He, the Spirit of truth,
has come, He will take the things of mine and He will show them
unto you. He will not speak of himself. The Holy Ghost does not go around
talking about the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost.
That's not his job. That's not his MO. That's not
his insignia. His job is to point to Christ
as it was the job of the son of God to point to the father.
You guys remember, I came not to do my own will, but the will
of him that sent me. That's what the Holy Ghost is
saying about Christ. I didn't come to do my own thing, but
the will of the one that sits on the throne that sent me to
magnify him and make him a reality in the hearts of men and women.
What a marvelous thing it is to be a lost sinner, to not know
God. And then one day in the mystery
of preaching for you to come to see Jesus as Lord. That's
a marvelous work for the soul to come to see Christ as Lord
That's a marvelous work. It's an absolutely phenomenal
work. And this is what's being stated here in verse 17 He came
and preached what to you? Peace to you which were far off,
who are those? The Gentiles. And to them that
are not, who are those? The Jews. For through him, do
you see Christ as the centrality of our access to God? For through
him, the second person, we both have access by one spirit, the
third person, unto the Father, the first person. These are Trinitarian
claims. And the Father, Son, and the
Holy Ghost are three distinct persons. Be sure of it. Three
distinct persons. We are not dealing with some
kind of morphing of one entity. We are talking about the authentic
distinguishing identity of the father over against the son over
against the Holy Ghost. Though they are one in nature,
they are distinct in person. And therefore they are distinct
in their work as well. The father did not die for you.
The son died. The Holy Ghost did not go to
Calvary for you. The son did you guys understand
what I'm saying? The father did not send himself.
He sent the son And the son is back in glory right now ruling
over this universe The son is the one who assumed the human
nature and is seated at the right hand of god the father. Is he
not? And these are critical orthodox truths as well that are essential
to understanding the cross work of christ It's absolutely phenomenal. And so that that first question
that we raised is how He sends Christ how he sends him through
the preaching of the gospel the next word I want to deal with
go back to our text now is a very important concept that we're
getting ready to get into in our Hebrew study and fortunately
the introduction to that is given to us here in our text as well
and that's the The claim that Peter makes about the present
position of Christ Here's what he says. This is an interesting
concept of which it's important for us to retain. He says in
verse 21, whom the heavens must receive until the time of what? Of what? Restitution of all things. So Peter has already said that
there is a refreshing that would be taking place according to
the prophetic word. That refreshing we know is the
ministry of the gospel upon the parched souls of men and women,
right? The analogy is that of the rain
coming down and as we said last week, it also speaks to God softening
the hard heart. The warning according to Jesus
in Matthew chapter 24 around verse 13 to 14 is that if when
iniquity abounds, the heart will wax cold, right? We talked about the seven churches
last week, which we will have a lengthy exposition on that
somewhere around the, uh, end of March or April, and we'll
go into the summer with the seven churches, Jesus warned in the
church of Ephesus that you have left your first love. And then
he closes with the seventh church, Laodicea, saying that I would
that you were either cold or hot, but because you are lukewarm,
I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. And all of the language
of Revelation is Old Testament Exodus terminology. All of the
nomenclature and the terminology of the book of Revelation is
Old Testament nomenclature and phraseology that had to do with
the Old Testament people because they were the prophetic priesthood
that God was going to use to bring light to the world. Now
the New Testament church adopts all of that language. And in
Revelation 2 and 3 where he deals with the seven churches represented
by the menorah, right? Represented, aren't the seven
churches represented by the menorah? That is what we call the initiatory
vision in chapter one. And I saw one like unto the set
of man standing in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
The menorah is the church of the living God represented by
the seven churches of Asia minor. You guys got the vision. These
are multiplied symbolisms in order to teach us that the things
that were taking place in the old Testament have their reality
in the new as we're learning in the book of Hebrews. So Jesus,
the great high priest is going through his churches, examining
it for its health. which he does today as well.
He goes through his churches in the ministry of the Word of
God by faithful preaching and teaching, examining the health
of every candlestick. And so with the seven churches
of Revelation chapters two and three, he warns them about making
sure that there are, the word that we want to look at now is
the word restitution. Now, if you have had some criminal
elements in your life, like I have, now you may not have, so we might
let you go. But my thug brothers know something
about restitution. So restitution is something we
heard in the legal system a lot. Because there was theft and fraud
in the violation of the Civil Code. And what the Civil Code
required was when you took someone's property, that you were to repay
for the damages incurred against those properties taken. Are you
guys hearing me? So restitution is a term or a
concept that fundamentally means to restore. To restore. Now you'll notice,
and I'll talk about this on Sunday, you'll see a prefix in front
of all of these words. And that prefix is R-E. You see
that? Those are prefixes. You have
suffixes, you have prefixes, then you have nouns, then you
have verbs. And you have other things, too, substandards and
things like that. So a prefix is a prepositional phrase that's
attached to a noun or a verb to actually give it color and
connotation and to strengthen it. For instance, the root word
to restore is the word what? Store. The root word to restitution
is to stand. OK? Stand. And what the idea
is, is to restore, or to reposition that which was initially standing,
that was taken away. Are you guys hearing me? In fact,
those two words, restore and restitution, as you're going
to see as we go through the scriptures, are really one and the same.
In some of your Bibles, some of your translations, the word
is restoration. Anyone has a restoration in their
Bible? There you go. So mine is restitution, yours
is restoration. They're both good words. Okay,
so in the class, you're going to learn some things. You're
reading an English Bible. The original language was Greek,
Aramaic, and Hebrew. So you and I are dealing with
translations. In any kind of translation, you're
dealing with a dynamic crossover from an original language to
now an adopted language, a cognate language, or a host language. Our host language is English.
and no two languages are so semantically equal or syntactically equal
that you can maintain a one-to-one ratio of transition from that
language to the other language without a potential loss of meaning. because words are rich in their
context, but they often can be lost in terms of their nuance
and richness when they get carried over from one language dynamic
to another. Am I making some sense? The English
language, we would call the English language a very practical language. It's very functional. It works. And this is why the English language
is one of the most prominent languages around the world. You
guys following what I'm saying? So almost every culture will
learn English because it becomes easy to learn and it becomes
a universal way of communicating with people. This is not so with
certain dialects and certain ethnic groups. The dialects are
hard. One of the hardest dialects is
your Semitic languages. The Hebrew language is so filled
with nuance, it's really hard to carry it over into English.
And so it would be with other languages as well. So I'm saying
when you read your English Bible, you are actually trusting in
the grammarian's ability to give a faithful translation of what
was in the original language over in the English language.
So when you have a multiplicity of English Bibles, some Bibles
will have slightly different words. But if you have just a
little bit of interest in grammar, what you can easily do is reconcile
why one word is restitution and another word is restoration.
Am I making some sense? You will find that they are cognate
or what we call family terms. They are family words. They're
in the same family. So we're not talking contradiction,
we're talking nuance. Does that make some sense? They're in the family. and the
family. And so, uh, when, uh, when, when
Peter says this, whom the heavens must receive until the time of
restitution of all things, which God had spoken by the mouth of
all of his Holy prophets, since the world began, here's what
he's saying. We are presently under a restitution
or restoration process. I want that to resonate with
you because I'm going to unpack that just a little bit tonight,
develop it more on Sunday. You and I are presently under
a restoration and restitution process. What the gospel is,
is the good news of God restoring that which was lost and stolen
and defrauded. That's the good news of the gospel. So let's work through the implications.
You and I are part of not only a humanity that is under restoration,
under restitution, but a universe that's under restoration and
under restitution. You and I are part of a salvific
process that encompasses the whole of the cosmos. So, like
when you guys use the term, I'm saved. You know how we use that
term? I'm saved. What you are saying
is far more comprehensive than you actually think. Because often
you think that being saved simply means I'm saved from my sins
in the judicial, in the objective and positional sense that I am
no longer in danger of going to hell. Am I making some sense?
But what you really need to know is that salvation is a comprehensive
rescue from a deterioration process of that which was not only stolen,
but left to decay and rot and perish. If somebody didn't retrieve
it, bring it back and restore it to a pristine condition. Did you get that? So, you know
somebody can print me a nice wonderful beautiful t-shirt that
says i'm under restoration Did you get that You you may not
like me now, but i'm under restitution I was defrauded I was stolen
and I was left to perish But somebody rescued me. That's the
term for salvation rescued me from a perishing state and I
am presently under restitution. Am I making some sense? This
is a restitution process that's taking place here that Peter
is talking about. And it's just a beautiful, beautiful
concept worthy of meditating upon. And in fact, the word,
I'm going to bore you with the original word just for a moment,
more or less, just because it's a powerful term. Don't this,
this word don't mean anything to you. Don't, don't, don't,
don't, don't let this word mean, don't let it bother you. Okay.
There are three words here. Apocatastasis. Almost sounds like a food dish.
Apocatastasis. Give me some apocatastasis. I am under restitution. I am
being restored. I am under restitution. I am
being restored. I am property. Every believer
is property. Do you believe that? I am property
that was lost. And not only was I lost, I was
in a condemned state, rotting. So not only was I outside of
the sphere of my original owner, but I was in a state of decay. Like a precious jewel, a precious
garment, a precious resource of which the Bible says every
believer is, we are God's peculiar treasure. Do you believe that? I am the crown jewel of the God
of glory. I know I don't look like it,
but I am the crown jewel of God's glory. I am one of those fine
pieces of jewelry that fits in his crown, which glows and glitters
and splendorously displays God's grace in my life, not to you,
but to him. Are you hearing me? And this
is the way the Old Testament closes out. I love it because
we got to go there in a moment because the the Old Testament
is tied to the new in this term of restitution. Now, I know,
you know, you and I we look like we look and we act like we act
but we talked about this in women's theology class last night. There's
more to us than what appears. But if you're superficial, if
you are existential, if you are secular, if you are carnal all
you see is what you see on the outside. But tell the pearl of
great price that's clothed in a knotty shell that has no external
beauty that we should desire it, what it looks like. And it
will tell you that it is glorious. Only it's glorious on the inside. Am I making some sense? See,
this is the mystery of the gospel that we rejoice in as the people
of God because God has revealed to us who we are in Christ. Now, a pearl in its shell has
no external beauty. It requires knowledge to know
what you got on the inside. If you and I get caught up like
carnal, earthly, secular people do in external beauty, we're
gonna have to put on a facade to make people think we're something
of value. It's called a schema. S-C-H-E-M-A. Take the A off and put the E
there and we have a what? Scheme. And that's what superficial
do, people do. They put on a scheme. They put
on an appearance. They put on the fool's gold of
glitter and make people think that they're worth something
based upon empirical sight. But what God is saying to his
people is that you are a hidden treasure whose beauty is inwardly,
profoundly inwardly, and where you will find your satisfaction
is to maintain your focus on the inward beauty. Because the
inward beauty is where the work really is. And it will not be
manifested on a public level until the restitution of all
things. Am I making some sense? In other
words, the pearl of great price inside the shell is closed. And you will never see the pearl
pushing open the shell so it can shine to everybody. Hey, look at me. But see, that's
what we do in this carnal world. But that pearl must wait for
the one who has purchased it to take it out, separate it from
its indigenous culture, and then clean it up by opening up that
shell and showing the inward beauty. And that's what will
happen in what we call the glorification. Am I making some sense? So I can go into the analogy
of the shell of the pearl with regards to the nature in which
that pearl is developed and matured through the difficulty and abrasiveness
of the sand and all that's taking place in the mucous membrane
inside the pearl shell. All of that is rich in its theology
and implications of how you and I grow by grace and through sufferings
and through the humility of our physical life. You guys understand
that? That's why we say before honor is humility. Before honor
is humility. It's not our time to shine. But
in terms of the restitution, there are three words. And the
first are what we call two prepositions. Apo. Not apple. A-P-P-L-E. Apo. OK? The other
one is kata and then stasis. Stasis is our root verb. It means
to stand. Stasis. It's the term that speaks to
the resurrection. The idea is that of something
having fallen. and then being picked up again
and made to stand up right. And you and I fail in Adam. And we fail by the instigation
of the devil. And we fail because of the propensity
of our sin. And having fallen over, we have
ceased to now operate in the dignity and calling of God's
image for which he created us. God did not create us to be laying
over on our sides like Dagon. You remember Dagon? Remember
Dagon? He tried to contend with the
true and the Living God. God broke up his fingers and his
leg and his butt. He broke his butt. That's the
original language. He broke his butt. And he fell
over because he had no butt. God's got a sense of humor, knocked
him down. But you and I were Dagon's before
God redeemed us in Christ. We were falling over idols, helpless. until the resurrection of our
soul. So Anastasis is the Greek word. Ana is a preposition also
that's almost like re. To stand again is what the resurrection
means. So when God made us born again,
he raised us up spiritually. Now we walk in the dignity of
a mind that's like Christ because we recognize our sonship. Am
I making some sense? This is the way God described
the people of Israel going out of Egypt and through the Red
Sea. I led you out upright standing up with your head high as you
walk through the Red Sea because I restored you to the dignity
of sonship in Jesus Christ. Remember Adam one is a son Israel
two is a son Jesus Christ is the authentic son. And so this
is what the idea of restoration means and restitution means.
It means to be raised up again. Apple is a strong preposition
and it means to be away from. So what that means is when God
raised us up, Stasis, when he raised us up in this restitution
process, he raised us up where we were in our fallen state and
he removed us from the sphere of that danger and put us somewhere
else. Where he put us was in the kingdom
of his dear son, Jesus Christ. For we were in the kingdom of
darkness. That's Colossians chapter one.
He had translated us out of the kingdom of darkness. First, he
raised us up. Okay, that's Thasses. Then he
moved us, that's Apo, away from that place. And then he established
us, that's Kada. Kada is a preposition means to
establish. All right, just establish and
he established us in the kingdom of his dear son Apple Cotta Stassi's
that's good stuff. You just don't know You just
don't know that's good stuff And the Greeks boy, they love
to attach prepositions Apple Cotta Stassi's. What are you
you are an apple Cotta Stassi's? People trip off that let him
trip. I'm an apple Cotta Stassi's brother After a while, you can
say that pretty good, apocatastasis. Apocatastasis, apocatastasis.
That's what we are, the apocatastasis. We are the restitution that God
has implemented in his salvation plan. And so I want to just share
with you a couple of verses around that. Restitution in this context
means to be fully restored and actually be young. That is presently
taking place right now. The law is given to us in Exodus
22, 12. I'm going to give us three spheres of it. First, in
the law. Because virtually everything that's in the gospel is established
in the law as a principle of conduct, because God has called
his people to understand how they should live. Problem is,
we're sinners, and so we don't live like we ought to. And in
violating God's law, God has to be counterintuitive and act
towards us in a way of what? Redemption. So the law comes
and says, this is how you ought to act. So in Exodus chapter
22, verse 12, listen to the language. Start back at verse 11. Then shall an oath of the Lord
be between two persons. Now you see that phrase up there,
that first line up there? Then shall an oath of the Lord
be between two persons? Here's an assumption that you
have to establish when you're reading the Bible. This is why
you have to learn theology. You cannot be lazy. You have
to learn theology and you have to learn it in the process in
which you learn your ABCs and your mathematics and every other
discipline because you have to be able to understand context. So the context is God is talking
to his covenant people. Remember, we received the covenant
in Exodus 20, didn't we? Where God laid down in Exodus
20, this is how you ought to act towards me. This is how you
ought to act towards one another. Isn't that right? So, and then
the folks said, yeah, Lord, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's how we gonna
act. Hoping that God was done, but God said, no, I'm not done.
I got a whole bunch more to say, because I'm getting ready to
explain to you very practically how you are to work out these
10 words. So he gave them explicit practical
commands as to, as a peculiar nation, how to conduct themselves
with each other in commerce and in business and in every affair,
agriculturally, civilly, and religiously. Am I making some
sense? In other words, what the Bible says is on these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets. You are to love the Lord your
God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor
as yourself. So the root of obedience must
be love. That's where your problem in
mind comes in. Because we love people in our head, but we don't
love them with our hands. Watch. So here are the two people
who are under covenant, right? These two brothers are under
covenant. That's the phrase. Then shall an oath of the Lord
be between them both. See, God has laid down his covenant
and they're under covenant to deal with each other as citizens
of God's kingdom. Now watch what it says. that
he hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's goods, and the
owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good.
In other words, two people arguing. One brother saying, man, I lost
my donkey. I actually think you took it.
Cause I saw the way you was looking at it last week and I just, I
just think you took it. And the brother said, man, I
swear I didn't take it. I'm a Christian just like you.
I swear I didn't, I swear before the Lord I didn't take it. And,
and, and if the brother who is under suspicion of having, uh,
thought that he took it has no credible evidence to further
the case, he has to leave it alone. Are you guys hearing me? In other words, baseless suspicions. without being grounded on empirical
fact and a careful examination of the potential evidence of
someone having done something to you would not demonstrate
love. It would demonstrate carnality.
For carnality is filled with baseless suspicions of people
doing something to you or against you and there's no merit there.
This is the battle of Galatians chapter 5 when it says, now the
works of the flesh are these. jealousy, envies, evil suspicions,
doubts, narrow eyes, evil eyes. He just looked like he took it.
No basis whatsoever. You're all jacked up inside.
And so love is not operating. You guys understand that love's
not operating? Because love, love, love thinks no evil. Love does not rejoice in iniquity.
Love does not hold false and baseless accusations against
his neighbor. It just doesn't do that. Oh,
we're getting to work. Aren't we getting to work? Because
we call ourselves Christians and boy, we're as carnal as a
goat, aren't we? Violating God's commandments.
So he said under the law, this is what you do. Now, if your
brother didn't do anything, let him roll. Leave him alone. Now,
you know what's beautiful about those commands in the Old Testament?
Here's what it required. It required, first of all, the
principle of love. But it also required the fruit
of faith. Remember, faith works by what?
Can I keep talking for a minute? Faith works by love. What that
means is when I read God's holy law and his standard for conduct
and obedience among the citizens in the Commonwealth, what I am
understanding is I have to believe that God's got my back. Have
to believe that God's got my back if my professing Christian
brother is a hypocrite and he actually stole my donkey God's
gonna expose him soon enough Am I making some sense? But I
have to work on my own heart because if I have no credible
evidence what God is doing is testing me over against his lordship
in my life and calling me to rest and rely upon God's covenant
blessings in my life to take care of me. I don't have the
right to work through and gnaw out and be suspicious and unending
arguments and debates and sneaking around to see if he did this
or did that since the Lord watches over all of Israel. He never
slumbers nor sleeps. Is that true? And he says he's
got my back so I can actually go to sleep even if my neighbor
is a crook Because God has not given me the revelation The revelation
he gave me is the rest and that's what I do when I go to bed at
night besides a few other things But that's what I do when I go
to bed at night. I rest in the true and the Living God. Do you?
Because what can I do while I'm asleep? I'm saying if the thief
is gonna come and break in while I'm sleep. What can I do? I can't
do nothing Can I I have to trust that God is watching me in mind?
Don't I while I sleep? I have to believe that there's
a watchman that does not need to sleep while I need sleep and
I'll be needing sleep And you know how we go into that third
depth of sleep. I We have to have somebody watching don't
we and so going to sleep is a kind of faith That's based on love
because i'm committed to the reality that a covenant keeping
god will watch over me and watch over mine And he has done that
these umpteen years Even while somebody is already preparing
to break into my house He will thwart their plans He will halt
their purposes. He will frustrate their goals
He will send them to flight while his servant sleeps, because he's
calling me to believe him. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? So let me go to the next verse. Verse 4, here it is. And if it actually be stolen
from him, he shall make what? Uh-huh, you was a crook. Yeah,
you was the one. I knew it. I knew you was the
one, man. Now, it's interesting because,
you know, I told you I was in Jamaica a hundred years ago preaching
in a conference and as soon as I got off the plane, they said,
pastor, you better watch everything you got here in Jamaica because
they take everything that's not nailed down. And I didn't believe
it. You know, I didn't believe I was a young preacher too. Maybe
I might have been in my 30s. Maybe I might have still been
in my 20s. But so I didn't have a lot of money then anyway, you
know. But, you know, we were at the conference and They were
doing all of the protocol, watching the people and all these religious
folk came in there, the big old building full of folks, church
folk everywhere. You know, I'm thinking I'm in
a good environment. And the pastor's wife was sitting down on her
seat while the whole conference is taking place. And all you
hear her say in the midst of the crowd is, give it back. Give what back? She told us afterwards
that she had sat her purse down right by her and went to the
bathroom or something, came back, and she was going to give her
$100 in the offering, you know? And the $100 was gone. She sat
there for a minute and prayed. She prayed. And then she turned
to the right and looked at the woman and said, give it back. Honest to goodness true. And
she gave it back. She gave it back. She gave it
back. I'm telling you, she gave it
back. That's our verse right here.
That's our verse. That's our verse. You know, you get caught like
that. You know the Lord's in that. Just give it up. Because
you may not even make it to jail. Not in Jamaica. You may not make
it to jail. She blessed me like I don't know
what she blessed me like I could see we ain't in heaven We in
church, but we're not in heaven. I told you when we first started
grace folks was still in my clothes out the bathroom I'm still looking
for my brand-new white feel eyes right now King I'm walking down
like all preachers and who which one of these youngsters got my
feel eyes on Let me catch that youngster And my size, 11 and
a half fee laws. I'm going to be in his case.
They were brand new. I set him on the bathroom counter, jumped
in my clothes, running up to preach, you know, and this is
the men's bathroom. So I, you know, I was waiting
for restitution all those years. All I wanted wasn't back. That's
all. I wasn't going to do nothing to him. Right. Just give him
back. But see, I had to trust the Lord.
Didn't I? This is what restitution is. And so the idea of restitution
is that something is stolen or defrauded and taken from us,
and it's rooted in the law. Go with me now in your Bible
to Matthew 17, verse 11. Let's go to the New Testament
and hear the gospel and the prophetic fulfillment of what is written
in the law. Because law issues, while they had a practical, very,
very practical application, are always, ladies and gentlemen,
spiritual at their core. While the law always has a very
practical application, they are spiritual at the core. This is
why Paul, who was a lawyer and a theologian and a philosopher,
that's what it meant to be a Pharisee, he was a lawyer, theologian,
and philosopher, would say in Romans chapter 7, the earlier
part, the law is spiritual. He would say the law is spiritual.
In other words, the law was not simply an external code that
you kept in terms of practical application. It really targeted
the heart. So every one of God's Old Testament
precepts was really a precept that targets the heart and raises
the question, is your heart right? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
It's not just, you know, love your neighbor, and then you find
a list of external things to do. No, love your neighbor means
you have to regard him as you regard yourself. You guys are
both eternity-bound souls, and so you want to see his highest
good as you would yours. That's what love would be. It's
not just say hi to your neighbor and, you know, take out his garbage
can if he forgets to do it at night. You have to pray for your
neighbor. You have to seek opportunities for your neighbor to come to
know God in Christ. That's what real love is. Am I making some
sense? And so the law is always targeting the heart. The relationship
that God has with his servants is in the heart. So from the
heart, do we believe that form of doctrine that was delivered
unto us by which we are saying now watch what Jesus said. Go
back to verse 10. I want to get the context. And
his disciples asked him, saying, why then say the scribes that
Elias must first come? That's Elijah. Because the scribes
were very much like our present day theologians, wrapped up in
an eschatology that was very carnal and earthly. I'll just
lay it out to you. I see the parallels so clear
in my present generation. This is why you hear me espouse
a very crystal-centric eschatology. But the Pharisees, in their day,
were looking for a political kingdom manifestation. And I've
told you that there are four manifestations to the kingdom.
There was the patriarchal manifestation, then there was the theocratic
manifestation, we are in the ecclesiastical manifestation,
and then there's the final glorification of the kingdom of God. There's
one more manifestation. They never saw the mystery of
the gospel in the Old Testament, which would be the church. Because
Israel simply thought that they would be the perpetuation of
a theocratic kingdom when Messiah would come, sit on his physical
throne, and run the world from Jerusalem. That's what they thought.
And this is what the disciples even thought, even up to Acts
chapter 1. So they're saying, what do they mean by Elias must
first come? Now you guys know this statement comes out of both
the book of Kings, as well as Malachi chapter 4. The last of
the Old Testament prophets, Malachi means messenger, the last of
the Old Testament prophets said, Elias is coming, didn't he? And
he is coming. And yet, just like today, what
the Pharisees and the scribes thought that was Elias was going
to be resurrected or reincarnated and come back physically to dwell
in the earth during a time in which there would be a restoration
process. Look at what it says. And Jesus
answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall come first
and do what? Restore all things I want you
to mark what's getting ready to take place You're gonna learn
some things a word restore restitution are two sides of the same coin.
Their root word is exactly the same Jesus says Elias truly shall
come first He's responding to the prophecy of Malachi 4 and
he's responding to the assumptions that are being made by the rulers
that Elias is coming, right? They are taking a very hyper-literal
grammatical interpretation, failing to understand the theological
and redemptive interpretation of scripture, which would cause
scripture to have its fulfillment in Christ instead of in Israel. There is at least five fundamental
hermeneutical principles for sound biblical teaching, a literal,
historical, grammatical, theological, and redemptive hermeneutical
principle. Without this set of principles,
you fail to see the scriptures the way Jesus saw them and the
way Paul saw them. Are you hearing me? Without a
theological redemptive paradigm, you will miss Jesus in the Old
Testament and you will not understand how the New Testament interprets
the Old Testament passages in the crystal centric way that
they do. Watch what Jesus is getting ready to do. This is
a hermeneutic our master is about to use, which most of my present-day
theologian brethren do not agree with. Jesus is getting ready
to make Elias John the Baptist. Isn't that right? He's getting
ready to take Elias and make him John the Baptist. Now, with
a literal, historical, grammatical rule of interpretation, you can't
do that. Right? There's no grounds for
it. When you buy into that method
of interpretation, we call that hyper-contextualizing. Hyper-contextualizing. It means to fail to understand
an underlying hermeneutic by which the context really is serving
to fulfill something superior. Hyper-contextualizing is when
you're bound to the context only, but the scripture does not submit
us to that hyper-contextualizing. Yes, understand the context.
but also understand its ultimate prophetic purpose. Remember the
rule, right? Lo, I come in the volume of the
book is written of who you are searching the scriptures. And
in them, you think you have eternal life, but they are, they, which
what testify of me. So you always ask the question,
how does this verse point to whom always are? You are not done with your exegesis. You are not done with your exegesis.
You see what jesus is doing. He's bridging the gap between
the old and the new and he's gonna show us how god had always
meant for elias to simply be a code name for john the baptist
You know how we have aliases and aks and all that stuff That's
not new with god Elias is a code name But i'm saying to you that elias
has come already now who's talking jesus is talking now they're
looking for elias But alliances already come and they did not
what just like they didn't know Christ Now watch this but have
done unto him Whatsoever they have will what did they do to
him? They killed him. Isn't that right? Likewise shall
also the son of man suffer of them who is he talking about
the Jewish people because we know according to Luke's gospel
that our John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah,
didn't he? To turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children and the children to the fathers That's a restoration
process. Am I making some sense? What
did John the Baptist do? He made straight the path for
the master to come by telling everyone Jesus is on his way
and And in his preaching and in his teaching, the Spirit of
God worked to turn the hearts of men back to God. That's a restoration. You know
what that means? You and I are going through restoration.
Are we not? The restoration is first deeply
internal. That's where the work is taking
place. We are being restored from within,
not without. our soul not our bodies or our
circumstances or our culture we are being restored in our
mind are you hearing me this is the restoration that's taking
place of which Jesus is talking about of which the disciples
were struggling with go to Acts chapter 1 verse 6 here it is
again and again the text I was quoting from from Malachi chapter
4 verse 6 is the last verse of that Old Testament where the
prophecy goes silent for 400 years But Acts chapter 1 verse
6, this is where we're getting close to home now. Listen to
what he said. This is what the disciples say.
They're all enamored. Listen to what he says in verse
6. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him,
saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time, what? Restore again the
kingdom of Israel. So they believed in a restoration
process. And this is where we're going
to wrap it up. I've got 10 minutes, and I want to make sure I make this
application here. That way on Sunday we can just preach it
through. I don't have to do a whole lot of teaching. I can preach
on Sunday. So what Jesus did not do even
at this time was to explain something that he knew that the disciples
would only get when the third person is present. What Jesus did not do was occupy
the role of the third person to explain to the disciples what
he knew they would get when the third person would come. This
gives us also an insight into the economic nature of the Trinity. Economy, remember stewardship,
dispensation, roles, the boundaries and parameters of our calling.
This is one of the things, ladies, we learned years ago in systematic
theology, the beauty and glory and splendor and reflection of
our calling as men and women in the Trinitarian persons. how
that the Father is preeminent, and the Son subordinate to the
Father, and the Holy Ghost subordinate to the Son, in their economical
roles and relationships. Is that true? They are equal
in nature, being divine, having their origin in the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, but they are not equal in their authority
or equal in their roles. The Spirit of God is subject
to the Son, and the Son is subject to the Father. Do you believe
that? Do you believe at any time the Holy Ghost said, you know
what, father, I actually don't want to do it Jesus way. I mean,
could Jesus always get that glory? Can I have some glory sometime? Or Jesus said, you know what,
father, all this stuff I'm going through for you, can I have a
little bit of glory? It never happened between the
three persons. because the three persons were
completely, completely and totally settled with who they were. Will you hear me? The father
was blissfully content with his identity as the father. He did
not need to be the son. The son was magnificently and
gloriously content with being the Son. He did not need to be
the Father. And the Holy Ghost was so absolutely
delighted in being the Holy Ghost that He never one time in eternity
past nor will He in eternity future covet to be the Son or
covet to be the Father. Can I tell you why? Because all
three persons by nature are intrinsically Love L-o-v-e They are intrinsically
love God is Love Are you with me? Can I keep talking for my
next I got five minutes before I let you go You can come back
next week if you want to if you don't want to But see this is
where humanity is so far off the course and because within
the economic function of the Trinitarian persons who are gloriously
divine by nature and they could if they wanted to, but they never
would because they are perfect and impeccable in their aspirations,
in their volition, in their desires, in their passions, in their goals,
in their wills, in their purposes. Independently and collectively,
they are completely content to operate all the time 24 7 if
we can use that although they operate outside of time as we
know it in another time dimension they walk and they work and they
think and they act in a perfect accord based upon love so that
if any of them at any time ever was jealous of the other they
would cease to be loved intrinsically are you hearing me If the son
were to ever be jealous of the father, he would cease to be
perfect love intrinsically. And that's not possible. That's
not possible. And so what God has done for
humanity, the pinnacle of his creation, man and woman, is to
demonstrate that when we see God in the cooperative work of
the three persons gloriously working together, equal in nature,
subordinate in purpose, functioning to their own glory and the salvation
of his people, happy. We see how God has meant for
us to be with one another. Like this idea of egalitarianism,
which I oppose everywhere. Equality across the board without
distinction. This notion that we can demolish
and destroy God given roles. That somehow a woman can act
like a man and a man can act like a woman? That a woman can
take on a man's position and a man can take on a woman's position?
That's high treason against the revelation of the economical
manifestation of the glorious God of love. Am I making some
sense? High treason against this God
who has demonstrated that it's only love that can keep you in
your lane. operating according to your calling
and manifesting the fullness of all that you are in your place. Only love can do that. Only love
can allow you to experience the utter and total satisfaction
of all that God wants you to be, although you can't be God. So here comes the devil. Right? In his jealous, maniacal, envious
state. inseminating into the body politic
of humanity. Amongst the first parents, Adam
and Eve. Telling Eve, you have equality
both with your husband and with God. Girl, take it. Am I telling the truth? You may
not like it, but I'm telling the God honest truth. This was
high treason against the revelation of the triune God and they knew
this triune God better than we knew Him. Cause they were without
sin. There was no mediator between
them and the three person. They had a wonderful relationship
for five minutes with God. Until the devil came along and
told them you can be just like God and see every, and in that
sense, they are the furthest from being like God. When you
and I violate the roles that we're called to, we are the furthest
from being like God. We are just like the devil. When
once we want to deny and erase the demarcation between who we
are and the way that God made us, and the way that God called
us, and the way that God purposed us, and particularly the pinnacle
of His creation that He created in His image. For He created
them male and female. In the image of God created He
them. And He did not mix the categories. Am I making some sense? And so
the rules of equality and subordination are critical to the manifestation
of God's glory in the world. For God is only known by his
work. Are you hearing me? God's only
known by his work. You don't see Jesus arguing with
the father. Holy Ghost arguing with the son.
The father arguing to try to get those two boys in line, those
two persons in line. No, because they walk in love
and are content in their position. And this is the mature evidence
in every family. Does a man operate according
to his calling and follow Christ and follow the Father under the
authoritative influence of the Holy Ghost? Does a woman who's
called a wife operate in her calling and follow Christ in
her subordinate and helpful role to her husband? Am I making some
sense? Do the children submit themselves
to their parents as unto the Lord, knowing that God raised
the parents up over them to guard them and protect them and prepare
them to get out into the world. See, children that understand
their roles are going to be more capable of being successful when
they leave home than the ones always fighting against their
parents. Are y'all seeing what I'm saying? In other words, the
family is a reflection of the Trinity on an economic level. on an economic level. Now, what
are we talking about? We're talking about restitution.
So let me say just a, just, I got one more minute. So for now,
because I want you to understand, and you guys are smart people,
but you have to think this stuff through because you know, TV
and internet and Facebook and all that stuff, it'd be stripping
you guys of brain cells. I'm just telling y'all, you know,
we get slow and dumb and stupid. Be careful who you listen to.
Remember in our money wellness program, our financial wellness
program? Get the last two CDs, because I deal with relationships
in the last CD. And the relationship is critical. If your money is
messed up, your relationships are messed up, because the principles
are the same. Did you get that? If your money is messed up, your
relationship is messed up. Because if you don't know how
to operate according to a biblical economics, you're not going to
be right in your relationship, because the money is way too
close when it comes to relationship issues. If you tie your money
up, you're going to tie your relationship up. That's why,
ladies, listen. Listen, you ain't getting with
a cat that don't have his money right. Forget it. And brothers,
I'm going to leave it right there. I'm dealing with a case right
now. I'm dealing with a case right now of an individual whose
wife then messed up $50,000 and didn't let him know. So you know what I'm doing. I'm
saying, man, did you know what you married? Because see, this
is not about economics. This is about relationship. Am
I telling the truth? Listen, ain't no way. That's
bad language. But I want you to get it. Ain't
no way. Ain't no way Barbara Gistan going
to do that to me. No way. Are you hearing me? See, cause I believe in an economic
trinity in my household. I'm the head in my house. Did you get that? I'm the head
and my wife is the helper. She's the army and all of her
gifts will only operate according to God's approval when she stays
in her lane. But the moment she's sneaking
out, and tapping into the account. Oh, she's attacking brother.
The war is on. I'm laughing. I'm joking. But
here's what I'm talking about. It's it would imply a chasm, a brokenness
between the husband and the wife. A chasm is as wide as the Grand
Canyon for her to be so hateful and so selfish. as to put me
in debt to $50,000 and not let me know means two things. Her heart is hard as stone and
I'm blind as a bat. Am I telling the truth? And we
both need to see counsel for the next 10 years because this
is a relationship issue. And if we're both talking about
being Christians, we are in trouble spiritually. Am I telling the
truth? We are in trouble spiritually
when we're operating like that. There are huge spiritual inferences
to be derived from that kind of behavior. Now, when God saved
us, his purpose was to restore us from all of those kinds of
tragedies. This is what I mean by a comprehensive
salvation. because if my mind is being renewed
and he has poured the love of God in my heart and he is now
teaching me his precepts because he's giving me a heart of flesh
that he's writing his laws on my heart and he's dwelling in
me and he's walking with me which is our theme for this year you
are the temple of God if God's in me and walking with me and
he's in my spouse and walking with my spouse ain't no way that
this kind of falling over brokenness can actually depict what it means
to be saved. You guys hear what I'm saying,
right? So when you young people, when you vet that girl, or vet
that brother, then bring them to me. We'll line them up, and
we'll make sure they line up. See, because otherwise, you're
setting yourself up for trouble. Am I making some sense? Yes,
he's if you aren't ready that if you are handling your finances,
right? It's indicative of either immaturity Or a lack of actual
spiritual reality All right, i'm gonna stop right there. I
went five minutes over. Let's pray father. Thank you for this time.
Thank you for your word Thank you for the saints give us traveling
mercy prepare us to worship you on sunday as you ought to be
worship You are glorious in everything that you are and you do in jesus
name. Amen. God bless you